The use of shape memory alloys or intermetallics and, specifically, Nitinol in the construction of medical devices is well known (Andrews et al., Minimally Invasive Therapy 4:315-318 (1995), Quin, U.S. Pat. No. 4,505,767; these and all other references cited herein are expressly incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein in their entirety). Nitinol has been used as dental arch wire (Andreasen, U.S. Pat. No. 4,037,324), catheters (Wilson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,890,977), heart valves (Akins, U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,690), IUDs (Fannon, U.S. Pat. No. 3,620,212), bone plates (Johnson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,786,806), marrow nails (Baumgart, U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,990), stents (Hess, U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,978, and Mori, U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,242), vena cava filters, staples, and clips. The properties of these materials have been extensively discussed in the above-noted references and, for the sake of brevity, will not be repeated here. All of the referenced devices have characteristics which make or tend to make them impractical. Often, they require heating or cooling which is not always convenient or reliable. Loss of temperature control can cause shape change before the device is placed properly or before the surgeon is prepared for the shape change or force generation effect delivered by the device. Sometimes, in addition, when force generation is the desired effect, heat-driven shape change restrained by an element against which the force is directed (e.g., bone) results in total conversion to austenite. Austenite has a reasonably high Young's modulus (on the order of 14 million PSI). Therefore, the residual stress or force which is generated in equilibrium initially cannot be maintained because slight changes in geometry or strain results in significant changes in stress. These slight changes in strain might be brought about by differential thermal expansion, or creep, as a result of tissue growth or accommodation in response to the force generated by the device, or by tissue atrophy.
An improvement was disclosed by Jervis, U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,906, and its progeny. This art discloses the use of pseudoelasticity to effect shape change or force generation at essentially constant temperature, in the case of medical devices, at or around body temperature. Pseudoelastic phenomena in Nitinol is brought about by the fact that stress may be used, within defined temperature and composition limits, to convert austinite to martensite. After an initial range of Hookian behavior, this austenite-to-martensite conversion occurs at essentially constant stress as loading increases. Within still further defined temperature limits, unloading causes reversion to austenite, again at essentially constant (but lower) stress. The loading/unloading sequence therefore defines a relatively flat hysteresis loop. The dimensions of this loop can be altered somewhat by alloying, or by thermal and mechanical treatment; but typical values might include a spread of from 25 to 50 KSI between the loading and unloading plateaus, and up to around 5% or more strain at essentially constant stress. At strains beyond the plateau range, the stress again rises or falls at essentially Young's modulus, as it does initially.
Hysteresis behavior to generate shape change or force at or around constant (body) temperature is discussed in Jervis, U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,906. Shape changes resulting from this phenomenon can be significant compared to strain ranges available with conventional metals (those without austenite/martensite transformations), and forces delivered can be relatively well controlled over a wide strain range. U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,906 discusses forming the device to the final shape desired, straining the device in a direction which tends to facilitate placement into the body, restraining the device in this strained shape during insertion into or placement near the body, then releasing all or part of the device such that it returns or tends to return to the desired shape.
Among the medical devices discussed above, prostheses adapted to hold open a body passageway by expansion, such as stents, have recently been the subject of growing interest. The concept of using an expandable prosthesis to open a body passageway is discussed generally in Palmaz, U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,665, Cragg, U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,377, Gianturco, U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,824, Derbyshire, U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,926, Sigwart, U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,500, and Yachia et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,445. Meanwhile, Hess, U.S. Pat. No. 5,197,978, discusses the use of a martensite nitinol stent which is deployed by inflating a balloon to expand the martensite. Building on the stent art, others have sought to employ shape memory alloys so that an expandable stent member can be implanted with thermal activation. See Kleshinski et al., International Application No. PCT/US95/03931, Regan, U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,458, Harada, U.S. Pat. No. 5,089,005, and Harada et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,427.
The Regan '458 patent teaches use of a helical Nitinol coil which expands from one diameter to another in response to application of heat. This is use of Nitinol in its oldest heat-to-change form. However, it has been observed that such use presents problems in several ways. The temperature excursions to which the body may be subjected without damage is limited. The ability to alloy Nitinol for accurate transition temperatures is difficult. The ability to control the temperature of a Nitinol device being implanted within the body is also difficult, with the danger being the shape change may occur inadvertently and potentially disastrously. The transition temperature itself is, in reality, a range of temperatures over which shape change occurs. Accordingly, there is a need to devise a stent in which use of or reliance upon temperature is eliminated as a relevant parameter in the behavior of the stent.